Concussion and Loss of Smell: Why This Sense Matters More Than You Think | E71

Loss of smell after concussion may be more important than most people realize. Changes in smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch can occur after concussion and traumatic brain injury (TBI), yet sensory loss—especially olfactory dysfunction—is often overlooked during concussion evaluation and recovery. In this episode of Life After Impact, Dr. Ayla Wolf sits down with neuroscientist Dr. Michael Leon and Super Senses founder Datar Sahi to explore the connection between the sense of smell, brain health, memory, depression, neuroplasticity, and concussion recovery. They discuss why smell testing may offer an important window into neurological function, how repetitive head impacts and concussion can impair olfaction, and whether olfactory training and sensory enrichment could help support brain recovery. 

Dr. Leon, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine, has spent decades studying olfaction and sensory enrichment. He explains why smell is particularly interesting neurologically: the olfactory system has unusually direct connections with brain regions involved in memory and emotion. That may help explain why changes in smell are associated not only with concussion and traumatic brain injury, but also with neurological conditions involving memory and mood. 

One of the central questions in this conversation is remarkably simple:

Why aren't we routinely testing smell after a concussion?

We commonly assess balance, eye movements, cognition, symptoms, and sometimes hearing after brain injury. Yet many people may experience changes in smell or taste without recognizing that anything has changed. As Datar points out, it is difficult to notice the absence of sensory information. Without a baseline measurement, someone may simply assume that food doesn't taste as flavorful anymore or that their sense of smell has always been weak. 

That is why Super Senses is developing an at-home approach to longitudinal sensory testing. Rather than assessing only one sense, its system evaluates smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch, allowing people to establish a baseline and monitor changes over time. For athletes, this raises an intriguing possibility: could sensory testing eventually complement the neurocognitive baseline tests already used in concussion management? 

The conversation also explores olfactory enrichment, sometimes called smell training. Dr. Leon discusses research using repeated exposure to multiple pleasant odors to stimulate the olfactory system and potentially influence broader brain networks. He describes research examining cognitive function, memory, executive function, sleep, and neurological recovery, as well as his work developing automated overnight olfactory enrichment through Memory Air. 

The implications are particularly interesting for athletes exposed to repetitive head impacts. Dr. Leon discusses the relationship between repeated head trauma and olfactory decline, as well as his collaboration involving former professional football players and the NFL Players Association. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

•  Why loss of smell can occur after concussion and traumatic brain injury 
•  Why people may not realize their sense of smell has changed 
•  How smell connects with brain regions involved in memory and emotion 
•  Why sensory testing may provide another window into neurological health 
•  How concussion can affect smell, taste, vision, hearing, and other sensory systems 
•  Why establishing a sensory baseline may be useful for athletes 
•  What olfactory training and sensory enrichment involve 
•  How repetitive head impacts may influence smell and long-term brain health 
•  The emerging connection between smell, memory, depression, and cognitive health 
•  Why researchers are studying sensory enrichment in former NFL players 
•  How overnight olfactory enrichment is being investigated for memory, sleep, and brain health 

One of the most important messages from this conversation is that our senses aren't simply passive ways of experiencing the world—they are continuous streams of neurological input into the brain.

After concussion, we often concentrate on what the brain is struggling to produce: memory, attention, balance, emotional regulation, or clear thinking. This conversation asks us to look in the opposite direction as well:

What information is getting into the brain in the first place?

Testing and protecting sensory function may eventually become an important part of understanding brain health across the lifespan—and for people recovering from concussion, the sense of smell may deserve far more attention than it currently receives. 

If you've experienced changes in smell or taste after concussion, struggle with brain fog or memory problems, participate in contact sports, or are simply interested in new ways of measuring and supporting brain health, this is a fascinating conversation about one of neuroscience's most overlooked sensory systems.

Super-Senses website

MemoryAir website

Save $30 on Brain Ritual - A daily brain energy-support drink like none other. https://www.brainritual.com/AYLA94359

Save 20% on your first order of Puori Protein:  https://affiliate.puori.com/LIFEAFTERIMPACT

The Art of Concussion Recovery - Available on Audible and Apple Books

Concussion Breakthrough: Discover the Missing Pieces of Concussion Recovery is now available on Amazon!

Follow us on YouTube & Instagram @lifeafterimpact

Website: lifeafterimpact.com

Medical disclaimer: this video or podcast is for general informational purposes only, and does not constitute the practice of medicine or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advice. No doctor patient relationship is formed. The use of this information and materials included is at the user's own risk. The content of this video or podcast is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice diagnosis or treatment. Consumers of this information should seek the advice of a medical professional for any and all health related issues. 

Transcript

Smell Loss As Early Signal

Dr. Michael Leon 0:00

Everything from heart disease, cancer, liver disease, lung disease, kidney disease, uh depression, anxiety, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, fragile X syndrome, Rett syndrome, concussion, uh CTE, uh traumatic brain injuries, uh all of these things are associated with olfactory loss.

Datar Sahi 0:20

When when smell is quantitatively monitored and we see a decrease in the ability to smell, that also correlates with a reduction in mood and an increase in depression and an increase in even acute mental disorders.

Meet The Guests And The Stakes

Dr. Ayla Wolf 0:36

Welcome to Life After Impact, the Concussion Recovery Podcast. I'm Dr. Ayla Wolf, and I will be hosting today's episode where we help you navigate the often confusing, frustrating, and overwhelming journey of concussion and brain injury recovery. This podcast is your go-to resource for actionable information. Whether you're dealing with a recent concussion, struggling with post-concussion syndrome, or just feeling stuck in your healing process, know that you are not alone. This podcast can be your guide and partner in recovery, helping you build a better life after impact. Dr. Leon and Datar Sahi, welcome to Life After Impact. I'm very excited to talk to you today.

Datar Sahi 1:19

Glad to be here. Thank you for having us.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 1:21

Yeah, yeah. Our topic today is on the senses. And Datar, you are the CEO of a company called Super Senses. You have developed this at-home testing kit that is really empowering people to be able to track their senses over time. Dr. Leon, you are a phenomenal researcher in the world of senses and sensory enrichment. So I'm really looking forward to hearing more about both of your backgrounds and about this company, and then talking about the role of senses in concussions and what can happen when people get a concussion, what types of sensory loss they experience, and why that's important to pay attention to and track. Welcome to the show and let's dive in.

unknown 2:07

Okay.

Datar Sahi 2:09

Thank you.

Super Senses Origin Story

Datar Sahi 2:10

Yes, Doctor. So uh my name is Datar Sahi, like you said. Uh I founded Super Senses. Um, and what we do is baseline and then longitudinal monitoring of all five senses. The way I got into this is that my mother is in a senior living community in uh Boulder, Colorado. And I was born in Hong Kong with my twin sister on Halloween. So that's a dense sentence and a lot of information for my mom to forget, especially being that our birthday is one week after hers. Uh, but on the day of her birthday, she did forget all of that information, and it was very sudden and acute and surprising. And so that started me down the um the long road of what did we miss? And uh she complained of things that um we didn't notice at the time, were we dismissed at the time, and we just didn't connect at the time to broader neurological health. And um and so, you know, it turns out that uh her complaints of the food um were very much related to to smell, which she complained about, but we didn't know was uh a significant issue at the time. And um she had some vision issues, and she elected to only um fix one of those issues, and so it remained a very large modifiable risk factor, as did as did the other sensory issues that she had. And so it made me realize that this isn't really a failure of care, it's a failure of tools. And uh with uh the great Dr. Michael Leon today, I I can't wait to hear more about all of the great research that's been going on in olfaction and gustation, which is where we're uh so concentrated after, especially after COVID.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 3:49

Yeah, absolutely. COVID really uh opened people's eyes to the things that we take for granted. And like you were saying, these things often get missed until someone else points them out. For example, many of my patients would say they didn't realize they had lost their sense of taste until their significant other said, oh my gosh, there's way too much salt in this food. Like, what did you do? Um, because they couldn't taste. And so many times we don't realize that we are losing these senses until someone else maybe points it out. Uh, Dr. Leon, I'd love to hear more about your background because this is what you've been studying for many years.

Smell Memory And 139 Diseases

Dr. Michael Leon 4:24

Yeah, so uh I'm a neuroscientist uh with a PhD in neuroscience. Uh I'm a uh emeritus professor at the University of California, Irvine. We've been studying the sense of smell, uh, the olfactory sense for decades, uh, and we've incorporated it into uh different ways of treating people with different problems. We've developed an effective treatment for autism using olfaction and other uh sensory stimuli. It turns out that the human brain needs a lot of stimulation, and if it doesn't get it, uh it can be subject to all kinds of problems. More recently, we've uh been looking at the aging brain and uh looking at people uh losing their memory. And it turns out that uh the uh human uh loss of memory uh is correlates exactly to the loss of the sense of smell. And uh over time, anything that decreases the amount of olfactory stimulation, smells, uh, also is associated with uh a loss of memory. So high pollution, smoking, stress, concussion, all of these things, menopause, uh, all of these things really impact the sense of smell. Even a chronically stuffed nose will not only block the sense of smell, but it will also impact your uh ability to remember things. Uh and even uh having a chronically stuffed nose uh increases your risk of dementia. Uh and so Alzheimer's disease is really tied to your ability to smell things. And indeed, over the course of COVID, when so many millions of people lost their sense of smell, uh it was predicted at that time that there would be a big surge in the number of Alzheimer's cases. That's exactly what's happened. Uh and so it's not just a correlation. It looks like the loss of the sense of smell really impacts uh your ability to remember things. Um, and that's probably because there is a direct connection between the olfactory system, your senses in your nose, uh, to the memory centers of your brain. Uh all the other senses can impact uh memory, and that's important too. Um, but the olfactory system is the only one that has a direct superhighway access to it. And so any change in the amount of olfactory stimulation greatly impacts uh your ability to remember things. Uh the olfactory system evolved at a time when there was plenty of olfactory stimulation. For example, nobody ever took a shower. Uh, and so it's the only sensory system that's on 24-7. All the other systems take the night off. Uh, and so it's the perfect way to maintain a great deal of brain stimulation. Uh, the problem is that we've cleaned up ourselves, we've cleaned up our environment, and so my guess is if that if we all take a deep breath now, we won't smell anything. And you can do that a dozen times in the day, you won't smell anything. And so what we think is happening is that we're we're walking around with a deprived brain, a depre a brain that doesn't have the stimulation from olfactory stimuli uh that it needs. And so gradually our brain deteriorates uh and also makes us more at risk for a whole range of uh of diseases. Uh we've counted 139 diseases that are associated with olfactory loss. Uh everything from heart disease, cancer, liver disease, lung disease, kidney disease, uh depression, anxiety, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, fragile X syndrome, Rhett syndrome, concussion, uh CTE, uh traumatic brain injuries, uh all of these things are associated with olfactory loss. Uh and it may be that when people have looked carefully, and and this is these are very difficult studies to do, they've measured their sense of smell and then they've tracked their medical history over a decade. Uh and what they found is that very often the loss of olfaction precedes uh all of these other diseases. So Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, uh depression, uh multiple sclerosis, heart disease, all of these things have olfactory loss way before uh any of the other symptoms. And so it may be that the chronic loss of olfactory stimulation actually makes you at risk for these other disorders.

Datar Sahi 9:02

I'm always shy to um to quote the science um when Dr. Leon's around. And uh so I want to add some qualitative layers to this because obviously that's the the world I live in. Um I think it's really important that when when smell is you know quantitatively monitored and we see a decrease in the ability to smell, that also correlates with a reduction in mood and an increase in depression and an increase in even acute mental disorders. Uh so this is I look at it as two stages. We've got you know the quality of life issues like safety and food and just smelling things that could be a hazard, and and quality of life issues like you know, oversalting food, uh, nutritional uh issues, and and then this, and then the long-term effects of it, which Dr. Leon touched on. And um the way that I like to talk about the long-term benefit is obviously cognitive health over time and depriving our brain and our sense and um and the stimulation of the brain over time, gradually in ways that we don't notice, which we've just talked about. Um the way that really I have found to make this accessible to people is to just let them know and remind us all that every single memory that you have ever had came to you through your five senses. Every single memory that you'll have from this podcast today, or any of any memory that you'll have or not have in the future comes to you through your five senses. And so when those signals are of high quality, then your brain is able to process those signals. And as Dr. Leon said, it really needs a lot of stimulation. People think that our brain's job all day is to uh create artificial anxiety in our lives. And uh that's not just that's not the case. It is actually processing sensory information, and uh that gives way to the ability to have consciousness or cognition. And so from my from my standpoint, and I hope I don't sound bombastic or hyperbolic, but the inputs into your brain as a result of what I just said, then are the most precious thing to protecting our identities, ourselves, our consciousness. And they actually sit upstream of consciousness itself. That's a little philosophical, but it's also biological. And so that that sort of brings it to life. So protecting the inputs of our brain allow us to stop concentrating on the outputs of the brain, which is what uh medical, the medical community is doing right now, by and large, looking at uh memory tests, mocha tests. And by that time, you might have had a smell impairment for a very long time, impacting everything that Dr. Leon just said.

Dr. Michael Leon 11:36

So, yeah, so this super highway uh from the olfactory sense goes both to the uh memory sensors of the brain and to the emotional senses of the brain. And again, when you lose your ability to smell things, you're at much greater risk of developing depression. And so that's the other part of this that is often ignored. Um and I should point out that all the senses uh turn out to be important, uh, but we lose them typically as we age very gradually. And so people are reluctant to, or they don't even realize that their the lenses in their eyes are getting cloudy, for example. They're losing their ability to see things clearly. Uh, their uh ability to hear things also goes downhill gradually. And uh one of the great things that the tar is able to do is to make it clear to people that this is important and that they are losing it and they need to do something about it. Uh men are much more likely, I think they're five times more likely to have hearing problems, but they're much less likely to get hearing aids than women. You know, men just don't want to look uh fragile or something. Uh but they can uh delude themselves by thinking, well, people are just not speaking as loud as they should. Uh but when they point out that this is something that is really being lost and that has a great impact on the uh the function of your brain over the long term, uh it allows people to get much more uh comfortable with the idea of doing something to correct their hearing problems or their visual problems.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 13:12

Right. Raising

Why We Miss Sensory Decline

Dr. Ayla Wolf 13:13

that awareness of just how important it is to preserve your hearing, your smell, your taste, your vision, your vestibular inputs, all of that is so important. And certainly in the concussion realm, we spend a lot more time talking about vision and eye movement disorders and vestibular imbalance. And I think that there hasn't been enough of an emphasis on the smell aspect. And so I would love to hear more about this at-home test kit that people can do that actually assesses all five senses.

Datar Sahi 13:48

Right. So, you know, recovery should not depend on memory. We right now, uh, you'd be this is it's it's incredibly common for me to get into a conversation and someone says, Oh, I have the best smell, or my wife has the best smell. She's so sensitive. And that could be true, but how do they know? And after a concussion, the data suggests that we don't actually know, notice sometimes that we have an impacted sense of smell. And and so we're sort of trying to remember how good our smell was. And the thing about all of our senses is that we are unable to detect the absence of stimuli. If it's not there, how are we going to know that it's not there? And so biologically, you could have a pretty good sense of smell, say strong. Um, on the other hand, it could be reduced. And maybe uh maybe you just got over a vir having a viral infection. COVID is not the only virus that can reduce your smell. And so what we're looking for is to arm everyone as early as we possibly can, at least one time in their childhood or their teens. Where are you? Are you neurodivergent? Are you one of the 10% of people who have a colorblindness and you don't know it? Um, is there an issue congenitally with your left ear and from a hearing standpoint that you've just adapted to, just like we do after a concussion where we just expect the food to not taste as good and we don't remember how much of a positive emotion was associated with that sort of ozone smell after a lightning strike or the first rain after a long summer. And you know, those things we we don't miss them when they're not prompted. And it's again the absence of stimula that we are trying to help people identify over time as a third party that's objective. A lot of times you can go to a healthcare facility or a clinic or a clinician or um someone who only operates in a silo, and because of hyper uh specialization in the medical community, folks don't talk to each other, so they might not get the full picture. We've had folks that have taken the test and then gotten eye surgery several times and then reported back that it was the best decision of their life. We've had folks that wear um hearing aids that are bone conductive, or they switch from airpods to bone conductive headphones because they're not putting more signal into their ears and and exacerbating the problem of hearing loss, or to k to Dr. Leon's point, cranking the TV up to 90, which exacerb which creates more hearing loss and of healthy frequencies. So there's just so much uh about you know, everybody usually has an aha moment. Um, and it sends us down this sort of path. I'll just add this one last thing. We are protecting the biology that makes the human species what it is. Um by preserving the biological inputs into this precious thing that we call our brain, we're we're preserving our own identities. And to be alive, you know, isn't enough. But to have a life is is um especially in this world where we're competing with each other, but competing with, you know, superintelligence now. Um so I'm I'm very happy to be part of this, to see people take changes in responsibility for things that are really important to them, uh, their mood, their memory, their identity, and um and to see where this goes when superintelligence brain chip interfaces get implanted into us and uh and take these senses of ours to the next level.

Dr. Michael Leon 18:26

Mm-hmm. So it turns out that the human brain is very sensitive to getting hit on the head. And the olfactory

Concussion Damage And Olfactory Training

Dr. Michael Leon 18:34

system sort of mirrors every time you have one of these impacts. So even repetitive head bumps, as people who play soccer or football have all the time, that results in a loss of the ability to smell things. Uh going further, if you have a concussion, a mild traumatic brain injury, uh, that also uh interferes with your ability to smell things. And having a traumatic brain injury finally also does the same thing. And you can treat these with uh olfactory enrichment. Some people call it olfactory training. And what that is, is multiple pleasant scents given on a daily basis. Uh it's a sort of thing that we just don't have in our daily lives. But having that kind of repetitive, complex olfactory stimulation turns out to uh really help. So, for example, children who've had concussion um can have their executive function improved by low concentration olfactory enrichment, different odors uh given on a different daily basis. Um executive function includes flexible intelligence, the ability to focus on things, the ability to not deal with uh extrinsic stimuli, and the ability to uh to get to figure out things, how to get things done. Uh it also has been seen with concussions in adults, and there they've looked at the brain and the parts of the brain that can be recovered from this kind of trauma, uh the frontal lobes of the brain, which again deal with executive function, flexible intelligence, the ability to get things done and to uh filter out things that are unimportant. Um and it also improves uh the part of the brain that controls motor coordination, uh, the cerebellum. And the cerebellum actually has one of these direct superhighway pathways from the olfactory system. Uh and so the olfactory sense both uh is able to tell you what's going on, that is, the loss of it, tells you that something serious is going on. But more importantly, the use of olfactory enrichment, olfactory training is able to recover uh the brain and actually treat it successfully.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 20:49

And can you talk about what smells you like to use or what certain scents you use in your olfactory training?

Memory Air And Overnight Enrichment

Dr. Ayla Wolf 20:56

And then I'd also love for you to talk about the research you did where you actually used an overnight uh smell therapy.

Dr. Michael Leon 21:03

So uh we use uh what people call essential oils. They were actually originally called quintessential oils because they thought they were very, very special. But they're natural oils. They're they're just odors that come from plants and fruits and flowers. Uh people are much more comfortable with them than they are with artificially constructed odors. My guess is that they smell more pleasant because they always include some of the precursors and some of the m metabolic products of these ascents. And that gives you a sort of a smoother transition between nothing, ascent, and again nothing. Uh whereas the chemicals have a single, sometimes irritating uh response. And so uh we just prefer to use natural scents. And uh we uh have used it to uh impact people as they sleep. One of the nice things about uh sleep is that um if you give it to people, you get universal compliance because they're always going to be in their bed, they're always gonna be uh breathing. And uh what we and many others have found is that it's very difficult to get people to do things, uh, even if their life depends on it. Uh and so we wanted to get olfactory enrichment without any effort. Uh and so we we've developed a device called memory air that sits on your nightstand and blows 40, 4-0 pleasant scents at you uh sequentially uh over the course of the night. We do it twice. So you get a lot of olfactory stimulation, the kind of stimulation that your brain really needs. And we have found in healthy older adults that uh olfactory enrichment at night improves memory by 220%, 26% relative to controls. Uh Nobody's found anything like that. That's just a mile ahead of anything else that people have done. And others have found that if you give olfactory enrichment four deodors twice a day, you can get people who who are older adults and have dementia, Alzheimer's disease, to improve their memory by up to 300%. And nobody has ever come close to that in terms of therapy for dementia. And we've also found that the brain improves very much like the behavior improves. And so we we have been able to do what no drug has been able to do, and no training computer training has been able to do, and no device has been able to do. And that's by stimulating the system that has a direct connection to memory. It also improves depression. So demented older adults also have depression, and the 40 cents twice a day improved it by 325%. Again, nobody has found anything like that. And so we think this is the new way to treat dementia, the new way to treat aging. And we think it also can deal with things like concussion, where uh we know that it works when people do it manually. Uh, but again, people struggle to do anything if you ask them to do it. Uh much easier to just go to bed and uh breathe while you're sleeping.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 24:24

Right. Turn on a switch and then go to bed. That's a very low point of entry.

Dr. Michael Leon 24:29

The first night you press a button when you go to sleep, and from that point on you never have to press a button again.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 24:36

Oh funny. So it's on a time.

Dr. Michael Leon 24:39

You literally just have to go to sleep.

Datar Sahi 24:44

I'm going to uh turn on the voice of the listener right now. And what some of the audience might be thinking is, oh, cool, I'm just gonna light a candle now, or uh you know, something like that. But but it's really important, I think, to to talk a little bit about some of the nuances here. So for example, candles emit a lot of indoor air pollution, and they actually certain fragrances, fragrances that are not natural can actually harm the olfactory system. And so uh it it if you're going to do this on your own, you know, organic, natural odors, nothing that's on fire, so on and so forth, at least for long periods of time. And I it's important, I think, to say that this was this product was born out of research in Dr. Leon's lab. And the product was constructed later after they sort of manually administered this over time. And I also should say that the data, correct me if I'm wrong, you don't turn on a device and then double your memory overnight. It takes about six months from the data I've seen. And so you want to be able to do it. That's why compliance is so important. Even if you are um a bloodhound in a human body like Dr. Leon, who smells 50 odors every single night before bed, which I which he's told me he does, um, this is far easier from a product standpoint. Um and you know, I think while this can benefit everyone, kind of tying it back to what we're here to talk about today, the everybody can benefit from a better mood. Everybody can benefit from being better at a Somalia or just conversationally talking about what they're eating and drinking. Um, it is important to notice when you really do need a product like this. And so that's what we're kind of specializing in. And right now, when you're an athlete, if you get if you if you go down the field and you and you bump your head a few times, you're just asked, by and large, how do you feel? And so um it I think it really is important to get a baseline. I said once in childhood, if you if you do that and then a few years later you're involved in a you know full contact sport, um, you're able to kind of see what the impact of that is. And there might be other underlying issues, but by now, I think the listeners should understand how important the sense is. And um and you know, we shouldn't be comparing ourselves to population data. So if you were to go out and you were to buy a smell test, which you know they offer online, it's not going to be part of your five senses, and it's also not going to tell you over time how things are changing. It'll just say, um, you do not have an impairment and you know, because you got this many right, um, or you or you do. And it kind of leaves you kind of hanging. Those are the products I've seen at least. And so what we try to do is um not only raise the awareness, not only tell you how you're trending over time, but then give you things that you can do at home. We're big fans of Dr. Leon's work, his research, and his product that came out of the research. Um, and we have a resource on our website that allows you to see like what are the most common at-home things that you can do for any of your senses. And then what are the things you can do to, you know, to discuss with your clinician? And then what are some of the emerging things that you can do? The emerging technologies that have strong data, but maybe are not yet uh FDA approved in this type of a thing. Um, and then things to avoid doing, like lots of candles. So um uh and I and and the sports arena isn't a place where we, to be uh to be honest, do a lot of work just yet. But I know that the NFL has protocols for things like this where you know they they they say uh put find something on the sidelines and see if they can smell it. That's that's uh the that's what I've seen. I'm sh uh I'm I've actually seen other things where it's you know sort of in a protocol. It's like find something or but it's not it's not scientific, it's not consistent. I guess I should say all of our tests are based on validated, peer-reviewed, gold standard tests. Our IRB validation human clinical study is is underway at Columbia University and also um in the UK in East Anglia, where it's an IRAS study. So we're working with some of the best um researchers in the world, and um and we just want to make sure that everybody has insight into their sensory health and that if they do it one time in their younger years, that they'll know when exactly they really need products, um, interventions, protocols, and when it uh when it's a nice to have versus when it's something that could be a significant issue for them in the future, they don't take action today.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 29:13

Right. So just like a lot of these athletes are doing some type of baseline neurocognitive tests so that if they do get a concussion, they can then repeat that test and see what has changed. You're recommending that at some point these kids should also have their five senses tested, screened for any kind of issues that may they may not not be aware of. And then if in the future, again, a concussion happens, they can retest that and see if the concussion has affected any one of those senses. And then the other, I love that you brought up this idea or the fact that synthetic smells and synthetic fragrances are different than natural ones. And I've always been a huge proponent of natural essential oils, buying the ones that aren't synthetic, actually paying the extra money for the ones that are natural. Um, I myself have a, I would say, a mild intolerance to synthetic fragrances. I don't like overly scented candles. I often tell my patients, do not put those trees in your car. Um, I actually had a patient with severe uh neurological symptoms because he worked at a factory in, I believe it was like New Orleans, where they actually made pesticides. And on the same machines that they made pesticides, they were making those trees that people hang in their cars, the scented trees.

Datar Sahi 30:32

Beautiful.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 30:32

Yeah. And he had full body tremors after working at this pesticide facility for 20 years and just being exposed to all those toxins. And so I'm a huge proponent of getting all these synthetic fragrances and smells out of the house, making sure that things are natural, because I do think that the brain knows the difference between those.

Dr. Michael Leon 30:55

Yeah. Uh so talking about the athletes, we've just become an official partner with the National Football League Players Association. Uh, and there are, I think, 20 of them using memory air at this point because they have been bumping their heads uh uh against other players for a decade or more. Uh and so um they have a 400% increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. And of course, many of them have olfactory loss. Even the constant bumping the head, uh, even if they don't get a concussion, is enough to give them uh problems uh further down the road.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 31:40

And your preliminary research suggests that by introducing these 40 different smells and stimulating the brain in that way, just like we stimulate the brain with visual information, auditory information, that being able to stimulate the brain with 40 different scents can actually potentially make a difference over time.

Dr. Michael Leon 32:02

Yeah. And, you know, it's been shown using manual stimulation, but people are just hard, it's just hard for them to do it. Uh, and so having it done automatically solves that problem. Um, but the thing that makes people fall in love with memory air is that um it makes them sleep better. So uh people, particularly people with concussions and older adults, don't have much deep sleep. Uh and deep sleep is very important because it's the time of the night when uh your brain uh sort of flushes out all of the toxic material that it's developed over the course of the day, uh and it literally pushes it out with arterial pulsing through the part of the skull uh through which the olfactory neurons come into the skull. Uh it's called the glymphatic system. And if you don't have the glymphatic system working well, uh the brain sort of marinates in this toxic material. Uh, and it's so it's been called the final common pathway to dementia. Uh and what uh memory air does is it increases uh the deep sleep that your brain needs. Uh and also, uh, and we're testing this out systematically, improves the glymphatic

Deep Sleep And Glymphatic Cleanup

Dr. Michael Leon 33:17

function flow. So it gets rid of the toxins that your brain develops over the course of the night. Um, and that allows you to have the ability to sleep through the night. And so that's why people fall in love with it. So for the first time, sometimes in decades, people are sleeping through the night and they're feeling uh refreshed, partially because they get more deep sleep, but also because they just get more uninterrupted sleep. Uh, and that turns out to make all the difference the next day. Uh, and so we we didn't make this to be a travel device, but people are taking it when they go on trips because they don't want to miss out on the good night's sleep. Uh so that's been an extra benefit, and I think it's one that um is really important because it gets people to use it all the time, and uh because they have an immediate positive effect.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 34:10

Have you identified specific essential oils that have a stronger impact on deep sleep?

Dr. Michael Leon 34:17

You know, we're collaborating with somebody who's done just that. Uh and um we think we can uh uh make sure that people get adequate exposure to those uh specific odors. But from our perspective, at this point, the critical feature is the multiplicity of odors, having a lot of different odors, uh, because in the course of your life, you simply don't get much in the way of this kind of uh enrichment. You maybe get one or two odors over the course of the day, briefly, uh, and your brain evolved at a time when it was getting dozens and dozens of odors over the course of the day. And so we think it's not specific odors that are uh critical, but having many different ones that is critical.

Datar Sahi 35:06

And and to that point, and non-scientifically, I'll add that I know folks who own the memory air device, and uh a few of them have said that uh they just love walking into the room and smelling different odors and the and scents. And the reason that uh that it's unique in that way is because what if we burn a candle, if we have uh pr you know lavender going, we sort of just get used to it. But with the 40 rotating, for what I understand with my friends who who have it and and customers of Dr. Leon's in in you know in care settings, actually, one of the one of the big rave reviews is that it's just a very pleasant device because it because it rotates.

Dr. Michael Leon 35:47

So if I had to guess, humans are evolved to be attracted to pleasant scents because their brain needs it. Uh and so it's you actually have a reflex response when you are presented with a pleasant scent, is that it goes to the cerebellum, the motor coordination center. And what that does is it have a rapid reflex that causes you to sniff, right? So you realize that you never sniff ordinarily, it's only when you have a pleasant scent, like you're presented with a rose, for example, you go right, right. And that is the the reflex response that you have to a pleasant scent. And so I think the brain evolved to get you to get that kind of stimulation.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 36:33

That makes perfect sense. Fascinating. And then going back to the home test kit, how is that structured? What what is in this kit when people order it?

Datar Sahi 36:44

Great question. Um if I um I should have had a kit here present with me, but basically uh you can uh you order the kit, and when it arrives, it's in an envelope, a six by nine envelope, and it has everything inside that you need. I think Dr. Leon has has used it, but essentially you have a 12 odorant, scratch micro-encapsulated scratch and sniff smell card, and we're testing odor discrimination. So you're given uh options to choose from. And uh then there are taste strips, and you're asked, can you taste anything at all? And then what you taste, and then you rate the intensity of it. Uh there's a touch disk, it's the only part of the assessment that you need a partner for. And then uh vision is testing color contrast, color vision, near visual acuity, and contrast sensitivity. Um, and then hearing, we have pure tone uh hearing test. And so when all of those signals

Five-Sense Testing Kit Breakdown

Datar Sahi 37:36

are scored separately, but then put together as a composite score, you have 14 days to get it done. And uh then you have a composite score. And if you're doing, if you're using items like uh memory air, if you are eating healthier, if you're sleeping better, then you you should see changes in in your in other vital signs. But this one is sort of the neurological vital signs. So the way that it would show up neurologically. And the last thing I'll say on that is I do talk to a lot of types of customers, clinicians, uh senior living, employee benefits, consumers, people who are worried about their parents. And the the value of having this before and after is it's it gives a lot of peace uh of mind. Um there was a recent study in neurology, it was uh just got released in February. It said it was a study that looked at 2,700 people over seven years. And you know, I'll state the obvious thing first. People who who used hearing aids had less uh dementia diagnosis by the end of the seven years, 33 percent, and the inverse also true, no hearing aids or hearing aid interventions, you know, then uh they had a higher rate of dementia. So by 33 percent. So it's not a small number. Um that's not the surprising part. The surprising part is that there were a battery of of cognitive testing that went along with this, mocha tests and and other sort of things that looked at what I described earlier as the outputs of the brain. How good is your memory? What is the physical structure? Are there plaques and taws? And that's where all of medicine is really focused right now. But if you focus on the inputs of the brain, the sensory health predicts the brain health over time. And so um we're the the work that we're doing is showing really amazing, you know, I would say we're really helping people, but the best is yet to come.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 39:35

And you make a good point too, in the sense that sometimes people may independently go get their hearing tested or independently go visit an eye doctor. But the beauty of what you're doing is you're saying we need to look at all five senses as a conglomerate in one moment in time and track that over time as this way of having an early indicator of, hey, something might be wrong.

Datar Sahi 39:59

That's right. Yeah. And what we're we're not a diagnostic company. We don't, we're not gonna say you have dementia or you're gonna get it. Um and uh so that's important to state what we are is a window into how well your brain is receiving inputs and processing them. And that is very, very important as your brain ages. And the earlier you identify those things, the sooner you can do something about it. And the there is a window, you know, up to which and the and the in the years uh where interventions work look the same as when they don't work. Um and so the only way you're gonna have visibility into this is to monitor it. And uh otherwise you're we're flying blind. Nobody, no doctor, no clinician can can tell you how your brain is gonna perform in the next five, ten, fifteen years. But if you're diagnosed clinically with a s with a with a major smell impairment, then everything Dr. Leon said is um is going to be associated with that. And that's just one sense. And so every sense behaves in the same way. And what I would what I would also say is that um it's not all or nothing. Moderate impairments are very strongly uh associated with this with the same through line. Um and hearing in particular, where every 10 decibels of hearing loss, which you'll never notice because you know audiologists are really looking for uh significant loss before a hearing aid is actually going to be recommended. And so uh the you know the hearing range is between 50 hertz and 20,000. They're commonly testing starting around 8,000. And so they're not even testing the upper ranges, which are the first uh frequencies to be associated with hearing loss and future cognitive decline. And so what we hear from our customers is that um it's nice to have this information to look at and not be told by a single clinician with a single sort of intervention behind them. Um and so, for example, one person um was told that they probably that they need eye surgery, they didn't get it, then they took our test, and then they went and got the eye surgery. And so it really supported what the clinician had said, and they said later that it was the best decision that they've ever made. And they're actually on our website um in a full testimony, uh testimonial video about it. So um yeah, I think this is one of those things that has been right under our nose. Um, all of the reasons but we just take for granted and we are overconfident in our senses. And so you know, some people say they're so sensitive, but you know, that could be psychosomatic. You might have normal smell and average smell, but just be sensitive to it. And so we're getting to know ourselves in a lot of ways by doing this. And um if you talk to an optometrist, they know how important your eyes are to brain health. And if you talk to an audiologist, it is actually technically the largest modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline. But uh smell and the and the whole body of olfactory and gustatory science is just thriving right now. That's where a lot of new work is being done. And so um we're just trying to help tie it together. And it's like it's a brilliant dream of mine to be in conversations like this and to be contributing to such a great body of work. And Dr. Leon's been at this for many, many years. And um, you know, I'm just super uh thrilled to be able to help make a difference.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 43:20

Amazing. And then how do people access your test? Is it only through clinicians, or what are the ways that people can can get their hands on these test kits?

Datar Sahi 43:29

Yeah, I would say a couple things. Number one, uh yes, longevity, top-tier longevity clinicians are adopting this. We have um we've got clients from across the nation. I'll just name a couple of recent ones, uh. Dr. Jeffrey Gladden and the Gladden uh longevity clinic, Palm Health in St. Louis. And uh and then we also work with uh senior living. We we're part of the HTC ARP collaboration. We just graduated there. They're introducing us to quite a few folks, especially nonprofits who really do care about long-term aging. We have found, unfortunately, that sometimes the economics are such that um some of these senior living um communities are not as invested in the long-term care. And um, that's unfortunate. But a lot of the nonprofits um that we're talking to, large ones as well, I might add, are extremely interested in preserving um the neurological health of their residents. And so it's it's hopefully a

Access Pricing And Help Options

Datar Sahi 44:24

matter of time before this becomes a consumer expectation, as we're gonna advocate for it to be. And we're um really pleased with the early adoption. Um you can also come to our website, we sell it there. Uh the kit is $2.99, um, and that's everything you need to test everything for the entire year, and uh, with the exception of taste strips, which are consumables. And uh the last thing I'll say is if anybody needs a kit and you know they're just worried about their parent or significant other or something like that, and they can't afford it, drop a note in and to the website and we'll figure something out. We're really big on accessibility and you know it is a lot of a lot of science went into this, so we do have to make a business out of it so we can serve even more people in in uh the future. But I just want to make sure that um people have access to this care. So um if that's you, you know, feel free to to reach out to us on our website and uh we'll see what we can do.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 45:19

Amazing. Wonderful. Thank you. Uh question for Dr. Leon. If you had all the time and money in the world, what would be your ideal next uh concussion-focused research endeavor? What would you do?

Dr. Michael Leon 45:34

So uh uh I I think more and more people are realizing that this waste disposal system, the glymphatic system, is critical for brain health. Uh, we think this is going to be the next breakthrough in the area. All of the drugs that have been tried don't work. Uh, all of the devices that people have used don't work. Uh but if we can modify and improve the lymphatic system flow, uh getting rid of all this toxic material, uh, that would be great. Uh and people with concussions have lymphatic systems that are damaged and don't work. And so that is, we think, the problem that underlies the problems that they have with their brain and behavior. Uh and so what we'd like to do is test people.

What Research Comes Next

Dr. Michael Leon 46:25

We think we're going to try this with uh retired NFL players first, uh, is to see if we can improve the gymphatic system and thereby improve their uh brain and behavior uh with uh memory error as they sleep at night.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 46:43

I love it. Well, I can't wait to see the outcomes of that.

Dr. Michael Leon 46:48

Us too.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 46:50

Is there anything else we haven't covered that you'd like to talk about?

Dr. Michael Leon 46:55

Well, I just say that uh big benefit of the supersenses program is that nobody is gonna go see, you know, half a dozen doctors uh even over the course of the year uh to test out all of these things. It's just something that people can't or won't do, uh, and they particularly won't do if they don't realize they have a problem. And so what this does is it brings to the fore um in a very rapid, condensed, easy way to get people to realize that they may have a problem and then they can go get uh the treatment that they need. Otherwise, they'll go through the rest of their lives and they they won't go, they won't realize it until it's too late.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 47:37

Yeah, and I agree. I mean, I have people come in all the time after a concussion and I'll I'll ask them how how is your balance? And many people will say, Oh, my balance is great. Well, and then when I get them on a foam pad with their eyes closed and start moving their head in different positions, they quickly realize their balance is not great. And so you're right, people do tend to just assume that things are intact and working until

Resources Wrap Up And Disclaimer

Dr. Ayla Wolf 47:59

they are properly tested. And uh, there aren't too many doctors or neurologists that test for taste anymore. And so I think, you know, you've you've got such a a great opportunity here to do a screening for people on all of these things and to try to help prevent people from falling through the cracks.

Datar Sahi 48:20

Thank you. Yeah, that's right. And uh, what I love about both of our work is it's um it's overlooked and sort of fundamental. And uh so we're reviving what um what has been overlooked by modern medicine in a way, and it's so necessary. And so it's um it's it's we didn't invent a new molecule, um, you know, but but we are really helping a significant number of people, I think, preserve and protect what really matters.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 48:48

Yeah, lovely. That's so important. I'm on board. Happy to help get the message out.

Datar Sahi 48:55

Yeah, I appreciate you having us.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 48:57

Yeah, absolutely. And uh for our listeners, what is your website? Where can they go to learn more?

Datar Sahi 49:05

Uh so for us at supersenses.com. That'll get you there. There's an actual hyphen or a dash in there, so super dash senses, but uh we show up in first place there anyway. Um and uh for for a limited time, we actually have uh an ability to uh to give, like, for example, the hearing test or the vision test for free. So again, if if somebody's interested, they can reach out to the website if if you know they can't afford the full kit. But uh everything on the site will uh help them understand how important it is and walk them through this uh this process that is designed to be completed in 30 minutes at home with immediate results right in front of you. So you're not waiting for any of the results to get mailed to you or anything.

Dr. Michael Leon 49:48

And we're at memoryair.com. So memoryair one word.com.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 49:54

Okay, perfect. I will share all of that in the show notes.

Datar Sahi 49:58

Great. Thank you. Beautiful.

Dr. Ayla Wolf 50:00

Yes, wonderful. Medical disclaimer. This video or podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advice. No doctor-patient relationship is formed. The use of this information and materials included is at the user's own risk. The content of this video or podcast is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and consumers of this information should seek the advice of a medical professional for any and all health related issues. A link to our full medical disclaimer is available in the notes.